Chapter 1411 — The Heavenly Dao Is Unfathomable
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" Shen Mu smiled.
"And yet, being bastards both, I count it an injustice to you, Divine Emperor. " The Divine Emperor Langxuan laughed. "Venerable Mu, you know a great many secrets—but you also know that through the ages many men have died inexplicably for knowing secrets they ought never to have known.
" Shen Mu laughed heartily, then said gravely, "Rest easy, Divine Emperor.
Venerable Hao and I are mortal enemies. Perhaps you and I might join hands and do a little something together. " The Divine Emperor Langxuan smiled faintly and rose.
"I shall not disturb the Alliance Lord's rest. I take my leave.
With your leg ailment, Alliance Lord, there is no need to see me out. " With that, he turned and walked toward the door.
Shen Mu mused for a moment, then stood, his expression somewhat grave.
"Though Tai Yi said he would succeed, Lord Heaven is being far too hasty. I hoped he would drag it out a hundred years more, giving Jingping time enough to grow. Yet he means to leap free of the Heavenly Dao's bonds and cast off his ancient-god body now.
" He could not help frowning.
Lord Heaven was being rather unreasonable—to not even consult him on a matter so weighty! As an ally, he had not taken the initiative to exchange word with Shen Mu; in the end it was the Divine Emperor Langxuan who told him of the affair.
"Lord Heaven is too impatient, too eager. He gave no thought to me, nor to Jingping. Earlier the Divine Emperor Langxuan teased me, saying I had come to my old age and had but thirty years of life left.
Heh heh—it seems that was no idle shaft. " If the Ten Heavenly Venerables removed Lord Heaven, removed Tu Bo, executed the ancient gods, deposed the Heavenly Emperor, and trampled Carefree Land flat, then Shen Mu would be next.
And to accomplish all of it would take thirty years at the most generous reckoning.
When the Divine Emperor Langxuan said he had but thirty years left, he had indeed meant something by it.
"Lord Heaven cannot be relied on! No—Venerable Hong cannot be relied on! All these years Lord Heaven has walked the world in Venerable Hong's guise; he has been assimilated by the Ten Heavenly Venerables, become a holder of power just like them! Even if he breaks free of the ancient gods' shackles, he will only become one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, greedy for authority!
" A sudden chill ran through him. Lord Heaven's aim was to break free of the ancient gods' shackles, yet at the same time to grip power fast, to make himself a ruler like the other Heavenly Venerables—a ruler who would never be supplanted, though dynasties rise and fall! "As yet, because his true body still exists, Lord Heaven has not wholly sunk into such a being.
He is still a Dao-born Ancient God, gazing down upon the quarrels of the mortal world from the height of the Heavenly Dao. But his avatar entered the world, and so entered the quarrels of the world; after so long, Venerable Hong has been troubled and sullied by the red dust. Venerable Hong can no longer look upon the quarrels of the world from Lord Heaven's vantage. " A fierce alarm rose in his heart. If Lord Heaven's true body died, if he broke free of the Heavenly Dao's bonds and became wholly Venerable Hong, then Venerable Hong would become wholly one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables—a power-holder throned on high—and would not be his ally!
The Lord Heaven of that day, wholly entered into the world and steeped in power, would not necessarily be Shen Mu's friend; far more likely he would be an enemy beyond all terror! "No. I must go to Lord Heaven and lay out where the profit and the harm lie! The Lord Heaven of now still has the heart of the Heavenly Dao; he should be swayed by my words and come to see the peril in it!